What's New

Increased guest operating system support: vCenter Server has added support for the following guest operating systems.

CentOS 7.0

Oracle Linux 7.0

Ubuntu 14.10

Windows 10

RHEL 6.6

RHEL 7 .1

CentOS 7.1

Oracle Linux 7.1

Features Added: Log information of files uploaded and downloaded from a host using vSphere Web Client or vSphere Client are stored. For more details see KB 2117341

vSphere Web Client includes significant performance improvements:
The performance improvements include right-click menus that are
visible and usable four times faster, other actions that are now at least 50 percent faster, and faster login times. This puts
vSphere Web Client on a par with the standalone VMware vSphere Client™.

Resolved Issues.This release of vCenter Server 5.5 Update 3 addresses issues that have been documented in the Resolved Issues section.

Earlier Releases of vCenter Server 5.5

Features and known issues of vCenter Server are described in the release notes for each release. Release notes for earlier releases of vCenter Server 5.5 are:

Internationalization

Compatibility and Installation

ESXi, vCenter Server, and vSphere Web Client Version Compatibility

The VMware
Product Interoperability Matrix provides details about the compatibility of current and earlier
versions of VMware vSphere components, including ESXi, VMware vCenter Server, the vSphere Web Client,
and optional VMware products. Check the VMware
Product Interoperability Matrix also for information about supported management
and backup agents before you install ESXi or vCenter Server.

The vSphere Client and the vSphere Web Client are packaged on the vCenter Server ISO. You can install one
or both clients by using the VMware vCenter™ Installer wizard.

Upgrades for This Release

For instructions about upgrading vCenter Server, see the vSphere Upgrade documentation.

Open Source Components for VMware vSphere 5.5

The copyright statements and licenses applicable to the open source software components distributed in
vSphere 5.5 are available at http://www.vmware.com/download/vsphere/open_source.html,
on the Open Source tab. You can also download the source files for any GPL, LGPL, or other similar licenses that require the source code or modifications to source code
to be made available for the most recent available release of vSphere.

Product Support Notices

vSphere Web Client.

Starting with vSphere 5.5 Update 2, Windows XP and Windows Vista are not supported as vSphere Client Operating System. You can find the complete list of operating system supported by vSphere Web Client in the VMware Compatibility Guide.

Because Linux platforms are no longer supported by Adobe Flash, vSphere Web
Client is not supported on the Linux OS. Third party browsers that add support for Adobe Flash on the Linux desktop
OS might continue to function.

VMware Tools. Beginning with vSphere 5.5, all information about how to install and configure VMware Tools
in vSphere is merged with the other vSphere documentation. For information about using VMware Tools in
vSphere, see the vSphere documentation. Installing and Configuring VMware Tools is not relevant to
vSphere 5.5 and later.

vSphere Data Protection. vSphere Data Protection 5.1 is not compatible with vSphere 5.5 because of a change in the way vSphere Web Client
operates. vSphere Data Protection 5.1 users who upgrade to vSphere 5.5 must also update vSphere Data Protection to continue
using vSphere Data Protection.

Login attempt through Use Windows Session Authentication fails
Attempts to login with the Use Windows Session Authentication option might fail in High Availability environment or when CNAME alias is used in the DNS. An error message similar to the following is displayed on the login screen:
"Windows Session Authentication login has failed as a result of an error caused by the VMware Client Integration Plugin"

The issue is resolved in this release.

Refresh of tenant certificates and credentials might result in memory leak
During periodic refresh of the tenant certificates and credentials, the vmdird opens handles to the registry key HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\VMwareDirectoryService but these handles are never closed thereby resulting in a memory leak.

This issue is resolved in this release.

Active Directory users unable to login to vCenter Server When the vCenter Single Sign-On's cached Active Directory - domain controller is unreachable
When the vCenter Single Sign-On's cached Active Directory - domain controller is unreachable, Active Directory users are unable to login to vCenter Server with the VI Client, unable to browse users/groups of the Active Directory domain, or are unable to access the vCenter Single Sign-On administrator UI using the vSphere Web Client.

This issue is resolved in this release.

Attempts to install the vCenter Single Sign-On on a machine where reboot is pending might fail
When you attempt to install the vCenter Single Sign-On on a machine where reboot is pending, the installer fails with an error message similar to the following:

"There is a problem with this Windows Installer package. A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected. Contact your support personnel or package vendor"

Unable to perform Security Support Provider Interface (SSPI) login
Active directory users who have access to or are members of certain groups or Organization Units (OUs) that are restricted in the Active Directory are unable to do a Security Support Provider Interface (SSPI) login.

This issue is resolved in this release.

NetworkingIssues

Power on operation of a vApp might fail
The Power On operation of a vApp might fail when you Power off and Power on the vApp concurrently. The operation fails due to a race condition created between lot of deleting portgroup tasks (undeployment tasks) and reconfiguring VM tasks (deployment tasks) concurrently. An error message similar to the following is displayed:

- Managed object of type "DistributedVirtualPortgroup" with value "dvportgroup-4027" does not exist.
vCenter Server task (moref: task-14826) failed in vCenter Server 'VC1' (42aa4b9a-da9d-479f-9330-2718d9e573a0).
- The object has already been deleted or has not been completely created

This issue is resolved in this release.

Security Issues

The Likewise-open 6.1 stack and Kerberos 5-1.11.3 versions have been updated.

Update to the Oracle (Sun) JRE
The Oracle (Sun) JRE is updated to version 1.7.0_76

Update to the Network Time Protocol (NTP) package
The NTP package is updated to version ntp-4.2.4p8-1.29.32.1

Update to the Python package
The Python third-party library is updated to version 2.7.8

Update to the OpenSSL library
The OpenSSL library is updated to version openssl-0.9.8zf

Update to the vCenter Single Sign-On OpenSSL library
The vCenter Single Sign-On OpenSSL library is updated to version openssl-1.0.1j

Server Configuration Issues

Event information is duplicated in the snmp trap message
The event information is duplicated in the snmp trap message. Messages such as NetworkRedundancyLostAlarm has duplicated messages in String= field.

This issue is resolved in this release.

Storage Issues

After inflating a .vmdk file it might still show as thin provisioned
The .vmdk file might still show as thin provisioned in Edit Settings of the virtual machines disk type even after you have inflated the .vmdk file using inflate. When you attempt to inflate the same file again it fails with an error message similar to the following:

A specified parameter was not correct.
The disk is not thin provisioned.

This happens because the .vmdk file gets inflated from thin to thick provisioned but does not get updated in the NGC.

This issue is resolved in this release.

Virtual SAN VASA Provider might go offline even after a successful registration
Virtual SAN VASA Provider might go offline intermittently due to VASA Provider synchronization error. This synchronization error is caused due to an axis library fault not handling the Null Pointer Exception.
An error similar to the following might be displayed:

Improvement in Virtual SAN datastore rescan operation
When there is a failover action and you need to rescan the Virtual SAN datastore, a change occurs to the datastore accessibility. The fix in this release reduces the rescan time and possibility of orphaned virtual machines.

This issue is resolved in this release.

Upgrade and Installation Issues

The ESXi host with larger number of virtual machines might take a long time to go into maintenance mode
The vCenter Server migrates all powered off virtual machines one by one. When there are hundreds of powered off virtual machines on an ESXi host, the migrations can cause a delay in host maintenance mode operation by a few hours.

This issue is resolved in this release.

vCenter Server database grows excessively after upgrading to VMware vCenter Server
After you upgrade to vCenter Server, the size of the vCenter Server database grows excessively and the vpx_hist_stat tables consume most of the vCenter Server database. This issue might occur when the vCenter Server database tables increase in size due to orphaned data in the vpx_hist_stat tables.

This fix will get deployed in the database environment only when the database is upgraded from an earlier release of vCenter Server 5.5.x. Before upgrading to 5.5 Update 3, remove the orphaned data in the vpx_hist_stat tables since the DB upgrade will not remove the orphan data automatically. For more information see KB 2061986

Defined permissions behave differently in vSphere Client and Web Client
Moving VMs between the folders is disabled in the Web Client when permission are defined only at the folder level and displays an error similar to the following:

This action is not available for any of the selected objects at this time

This issue is resolved in this release.

Related Events tab in vSphere Web Client displays an error
vSphere Web client does not display information about related tasks or events in the Related Events tab. It shows an error similar to the following:

java.lang.Double cannot be cast to java.lang.Integer

This issue is resolved in this release.

Attempting to modify storage policy fails in the vCenter Server appliance
Attempting to modify storage policy in the vCenter Server Appliance fails with an error similar to the following:

Internal error ;has occurred error #1034

This issue is resolved in this release.

Connectee column fails to display the ESXi hostname of the vmnic
ESXi hostnames are not displayed with their virtual machine network adapters in the Connectee column in vSphere Web Client.

This issue is resolved in this release.

vpxd service is unstable and it fails with an error
The VirtualCenter Server service (vpxd) causes service instability and fails if it encounters an unknown type of controller in a virtual machine.

This issue is resolved in this release. For more information see KB 2100938

Japanese role names get corrupted in vSphere Client
Japanese role names get corrupted after isolating or joining vCenter Server instance from linked-mode group. It might also get corrupted after a major vCenter Server upgrade.

This issue is resolved in this release.

The vswp datastore is not displayed after reconfiguring a VM
The vSphere Client and Web Client stops displaying the vswp datastore for a virtual machine with custom vswp location. This issue occurs after you reconfigure a virtual machine.

This issue is resolved in this release.

VMware vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) might not send alert if DRS does not receive statistics from the host
The vCenter Client might fail to report host configuration issue even when DRS is not receiving statistics from the host.

This issue is resolved in this release.

vCenter Server fails when pending recommendations are applied
A cancel recommendation task might hit an expired recommendation which causes the vCenter Server to fail. This issue occurs because the recommendations might have been purged due to expiration or when the recommendation buffer is full.

This issue is resolved in this release.

Unable to login to vSphere Web Client
Attempts to login to the vSphere Web Client gets stuck at the message "authenticating" and then fails with an error message similar to the following:

"The vSphere web client cannot connect to the vCenter Single Sign On server"

This issue is resolved in this release.

Authentication fails when multiple 'Active Directory as an LDAP Server' identity sources are configured for Single Sign-On
When multiple 'Active Directory as an LDAP Server' identity sources are configured, the Single Sign-On service might erroneously attribute UPN suffixes of one identity source to another, resulting in authentication failure.

This issue is resolved in this release.

vCenter Server fails while retrieving host profiles
vCenter Server fails with access violation error while retrieving host profiles. This issue occurs due to unprotected access of the object in GenerateAnswerFileTemplate by multiple threads simultaneously. The vpxd log might contain a backtrace similar to the following:

After upgrading to vCenter Server 5.5, the debug.log file of syslog collector grows without limit
After upgrading to vCenter Server 5.5, the debug.log file of "C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Syslog Collector\logs\" grows indefinitely without being rotated.

This issue is resolved in this release.

Expected values are not displayed for Not-Shared Storage and Used Storage counters in the VM summary page
Not-Shared Storage and Used Storage values are displayed incorrectly for virtual machines. The issue occurs when vCenter Server considers the unique size provided by host as shared size and derives the value for non-shared storage from it.

This issue is resolved in this release.

Attempts to list host clusters using VMware NSX manager might fail
The VMware NSX manager might fail to list the host clusters in the Host Preparation tab. An error message similar to the following is displayed if we try to access ESX Agent Manager Managed object browser.

HTTP error 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable

This issue is resolved in this release.

SNMP alerts display IP as 0.0.0.0 instead of the VC IP address after upgrading to vCenter Server 5.5 Update 2d
When using SNMP receiver to receive SNMP trap messages, the information from vCenter server appears to originate from an incorrect IP address 0.0.0.0. This issue occurs after upgrading the vCenter Server to version 5.5 Update 2d.

This issue is resolved in this release.

Attempts to enable to Fault Tolerance on a powered-off virtual machine might fail
Attempts to enable to Fault Tolerance on a powered-off virtual machine where the Raw Device Mapping (RDM) is attached in virtual mode might fail. An error message similar to the following might be displayed:

Unable to power on FT with RDM due to having "Unexpected exception while creating secondary vm" at CreateSecondaryVmInt.

This issue is resolved in this release.

The datastore cluster might select the datastore filled above the threshold capacity even when a datastore with more capacity is available
When provisioning a virtual machine on a storage DRS enabled datastore cluster. A datastore filled above the threshold capacity might get selected over a datastore with more space capacity. This issue occurs due to algorithmic miscalculations.

This issue is resolved in this release.

vCenter Server might shutdown due to race condition
The vCenter Server might shut down due to race conditions in OptionManager. This issue occurs when you attempt to modify an existing OptionValue using OptionManager that causes race condition.

This issue is resolved in this release.

ESXi 5.x hosts disconnected when vCenter Server 5.x is installed with non-default heartbeat port
When you attempt to add an ESXi 5.x host to a vCenter Server 5.x having custom ports, the hosts get disconnected after a short time. This issue occurs if the heartbeat port number is changed to a non-default value.

This issue occurs because there are no values for missing options in option.vmsg

This issue is resolved in this release.

Updating Time Zone version to 2015b for linux and to September-2014 for Windows in vSphere Client and the vSphere Web Client
The vSphere Client and the vSphere Web Client guest operating system (OS) customization workflow did not provide the option to select the updated time zones.

This issue is resolved in this release.

Show Me button is overlapped in vCenter Server
In the vCenter Server, in the link Learn how to install a guest operating system Show Me button is overlapped.

This issue is resolved in this release.

vCenter Server 5.5 does not display complete SNMP trap notification details
SNMP messages coming from the vCenter Server 5.5 do not contain the status change information in the Event Summary for certain Hardware Heath Change events. You might see Event details similar to the following:

"Health of <host> changed from to ."

This issue is resolved in this release.

vCenter Server might stop responding when accessing TaskInfo
The vCenter Server might stop responding if you access the TaskInfo without having access permission. An error message similar to the following might be displayed:

No Access permission at vCenter Server level restricts permissions of users with higher access on lower objects
User with "No Access" permission set at the vCenter Server level is not able to perform any action on virtual machine though the user has required permission at the VM folder level which contains the virtual machine.

This issue is resolved in this release.

Timezones are not consistent between VI client and vSphere Web Client
Timezone entries in timezone list are not consistent between VI client and vSphere Web Client.

This issue is resolved in this release.

HTML 5 console fails with an error in a multiple vCenter Server environment
Attempting to open VMware vSphere Web Client HTML 5 console in a multiple vCenter Server environment might fail with an error similar to the following:

"The console has been disconnected. Close this window and relaunch the console to reconnect"

This issue is resolved in this release.

Attempt to download files using HTTP with special characters in folder path fails
Attempting to download files from the ESXi host through vCenter server using HTTP with special characters such as '#' in the folder path fails.

This issue is resolved in this release.

Error occurs while selecting Plug-In Management on the vSphere Web Client
When you select the Administration > Plug-In Management on the vSphere Web Client, you see an error similar to the following:

An internal error has occurred - Error #1009.

This issue is resolved in this release.

UI inventory may not display all the vCenter Servers when one inventory service is down
When vCenter Server is configured in Linked Mode and one inventory service stops responding or is offline, the vSphere Web Client may not display the other vCenter Servers that have a running inventory service.

This issue is resolved in this release.

vCenter Server service fails to start on reboot after applying access control listsvpxd fails to start on reboot after applying access control lists or traffic filtering rules to the vSphere Distributed Switches (vDS) portgroup.

This issue is resolved in this release.

The Remove Datastore task remains in the In Progress state in the vSphere Client
The VPX_TASK table within the vCenter Server database contains running tasks that have already been marked as Finished. The Recent Tasks pane is empty, the Task and Events pane still displays the Remove datastore task as In Progress although the Remove datastore task shows as completed in the vpxd.log file.

Web based datastore browser might try to download files from an unresponsive host
While using the Web based datastore browser, the vCenter Server chooses an ESXi host to service the download operation. The download operation may fail if the hosts are in unresponsive state in the vCenter server.

This issue is resolved in this release.

Statistics are not reported from ESXi host to vCenter Server when host agent starts a full host sync request with vCenter Server followed by a restart
After the host agent starts a full host sync request with vCenter followed by vCenter restart, the host stops reporting back statistics to vCenter Server. This causes DRS to make estimation of resource usage based on static configuration of the VMs on the affected host. As a result, VM migrations may be triggered by the DRS and cause imbalance in the VM load across the cluster, which may result in instability and affect the performance of the VMs.

This issue is resolved in this release.

vCenter Storage View tab displays multipathing status of datastore as Partial/No Redundancy when Power Path (MPP) is installed on the host
For a particular host, if 2 or more different adapter values with the same hostentityId and volumeID, the status is shown as Up/Full redundancy. When you use VMware Native Multipathing (NMP) module to manage the path, the multipathing status of the datastore is displayed correctly as Redundant. When you use Power Path multipath plugin (MPP) instead of NMP, the multipathing status of the datastore is displayed incorrectly as Partial/No redundancy.

This issue is resolved in this release.

Backing up the VMware vCenter Inventory Service database fails with an authentication error
After vCenter Inventory Service database reset operation, attempting to back up the vCenter Inventory Service database fails with an authentication error similar to the following:

Unable to apply DRS resource settings to an ESXi host
Attempting to apply DRS resource settings to an ESXi host using vCenter Server might result in these errors:

Unable to apply DRS resource Settings on host. The object has already been deleted or has not been completely created. This can significantly reduce the effectiveness of DRS

This issue is resolved in this release.

Attempt to export all matching events does not export all events but with limits in vSphere Web Client
In vSphere Web Client, attempting to export "All matching events" does not export all events. Limited number of events that are equal to the value set in "Most recent matching events" are exported.

This issue is resolved in this release.

Canceling a move operation initiates movement of virtual machine between two resource pools
While moving a Virtual Machine from one resource pool to another from vSphere Web Client where the VM is created and is a part of a solution vCloud Director, a confirm operation dialog box appears. The warning message similar to the following is displayed with options Yes and No.

One or more of the entities involved in the move action are managed by a solution...

Choosing Yes should initiate the movement of VM. Currently choosing both Yes or No initiates the movement of VM across the resource pools.

This issue is resolved in this release.

vpxd might fail with out of memory errorwith vPostgres database
In large-scale deployments with the PostgreSQL database the VMware VirtualCenter Server service (vpxd.exe) might fail with out of memory error

This issue is resolved in this release.

Attempts to do a virtual machine customization might fail
Attempts to do a virtual machine customization might fail with a sysprep error. This happens when you deploy Windows images and sysprep intermittently stops responding leaving virtual machine in an unusable state. An error message similar to the following is displayed in setupact.log:

Web Client fails to display paths to the datastores after installing EMC Powerpath 5.9.x
After installing the EMC PowerPath version to 5.9.x the Web Client fails to detect path to datastores for devices managed by PowerPath.

This issue is resolved in this release.

vCenter Virtual Appliance (vCVA) is unable to join the domain
The vCenter Virtual Appliance (vCVA) is unable to join the domain when the NETBIOS domain name contains lower case characters.

This issue is resolved in this release.

Virtual Machine Management Issues

Unable to deploy virtual machine from template with NIC connected to a DVS and using a CustomIpGenerator Script
Customizing a VM with a NIC connected to a DVS and using a script to assign the IP address on the virtual machine fails at 93% with an error similar to the following:

Configured serial port might show as unsupported in vCenter Server
Serial port might show as unsupported in the vCenter Server, whereas it appears as supported in vSphere Web Client. This is because vCenter Server do not persist serial port settings.

This issue is resolved in this release.

Converting a template to a virtual machine fails with a error
While converting a template to a Virtual Machine the operation fails with an error message similar to the following:Creating a virtual machine in a cluster fails with the error: A component of the virtual machine is not accessible on the host

This issue occurs in a DRS cluster when it is Read Only from where the ISO is attached to the VM.

This issue is resolved in this release.

vMotion and Storage vMotionIssues

vMotion of MSCS cluster across box is not supported on virtual machines with hardware version 10 with bus sharing set to physicalvMotion of MSCS cluster across box is not supported on virtual machines with hardware version 10 with bus sharing set to physical. This issue is resolved in this release by displaying the following error message in the vMotion compatibility check wizard when you perform a vMotion operation in such an environment:

"Virtual machine is configured to use a device that prevents the operation:

Note: This issue does not occur in virtual machines with hardware version 7, 8 or 9

This issue is resolved in this release.

Changed Block Tracking is disabled after resizing a virtual disk
CBT is reset during virtual disk migration using Storage vMotion. This results in the backup tool being unaware which blocks have changed since the last backup. An incremental virtual machine backup is not possible and a full backup is required.

This issue is resolved in this release.

VMware HA and Fault Tolerance Issues

ESX host fails to reconnect to VMware vSphere High Availability cluster and results in a timeout
When the host is taken out of maintenance mode, the vSphere HA cluster waits for the host to reconnect and host reconnect times out after 2 seconds.

This issue is resolved in this release.

Removing the existing host from maintenance mode might report an High Availability (HA) error in vCenterServer
Attempts to remove a host from maintenance mode in HA enabled cluster might report the following HA status message in vCenter Server:

unknown error intializing HA

This issue is resolved in this release.

Licensing Issues

In vSphere Web Client license information is not displayed correctly
In Linked VC, the license information under Administration > Licensing > Licenses > Hosts shows the ESXi hosts are licensed with the same license key though the hosts are assigned with different license keys. This issue occurs only when the ESX hosts have the same MoRef ID.

This issue is resolved in this release.

Guest Operating Issues

Non unique VM names created for the selected netbios option to create unique VM names during customization
While customizing a Windows virtual machine, in the NETBIOS name setting if you select the option "Append a numeric value to ensure uniqueness" to set a unique VM name, query to find a VM name does not get the accurate information from the powered down virtual machine's resulting in duplication of the virtual machine names.

This issue is resolved in this release.

Miscellaneous Issues

vCenter Server Service might become unresponsive when running multiple external scripts
The vCenter Server Service vpxd might become unresponsive when you run more than external scripts such as alarms through the vCenter Server.

NEW After Upgrade to vCenter Server 5.5 Update 3 the Cluster, vApp, and Resource Pool Statistics are Missing from Performance Charts
If you perform an upgrade from vCenter Server 5.5 Update 2 or earlier to vSphere 5.5 Update 3, the performance improvements made in vSphere 5.5 Update 3 might cause Performance Charts to lose some statistics about clusters, vApps, and resource pools for periods preceding the upgrade.

Workaround: To work around this issue, run a script for your database immediately after you upgrade to vCenter Server 5.5 Update 3. If your vSphere inventory changes between the time you upgrade to vCenter Server 5.5 Update 3 and the time you run the script, some of the statistics for clusters, vApps, and resource pools might be incomplete for the periods preceding the upgrade.
To download the script and for step-by-step instructions how to run the script, see KB 2144010.

syslog installer fails with an error after providing vCenter Server credentials
After providing vCenter Server credentials syslog installer fails with an error similar to the following:

"vcenter server version is not supported"

This issue does not occur in standalone installation of syslog collector

Workaround: use syslog in standalone mode

Attempts to install vCenter Server with embedded database might fail
While installing vCenter Server, if you create a valid unrequired Data Source Name (DSN) on a database other than the local bundled database, select it, click Next, and then if you click back to come back to the DSN selection screen and choose the bundled database instead of the custom database, the installation fails with the following error message.

Error 25060.Setup failed to execute sqlcmd.exe

Workaround: To resolve this issue, relaunch the installer for a successful installation.

Attempts to install vCenter Single Sign On 5.5 Update 2d or upgrade from vCenter Sign On 5.1 Update x fail if the password set for administrator@vsphere.local contains backslash (\) at the end
When you attempt to upgrade from vCenter Single Sign On 5.1 update X to 5.5 Update 2d or install vCenter Single Sign On 5.5 Update 2d, you must provide a new password for the user name administrator@vsphere.local. If the new password contains the backslash (\) character at the end, the installer rolls back and the installation or upgrade fails.

Workaround: To resolve this issue, restart the installer and set a valid password without the backslash (\) character at the end for administrator@vsphere.local.

List of services registered with vCenter Single Sign-On display incorrect version of vCenter Server 5.5 and vSphere Web Client 5.5 as version 5.1
After you upgrade from earlier versions of vCenter Server 5.5 to vCenter Server 5.5 Update 2d, if you view the list of services registered with VMware vCenter Single Sign-On using the ssocli tool, the version of vCenter Server 5.5 and the vSphere Web Client 5.5 are incorrectly displayed as version 5.1.

Workaround: None.

Attempts to upgrade from earlier versions of vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 to 5.5 Update 2d might fail if the Windows Error Reporting Service is disabled
When you attempt to upgrade from earlier versions of vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 to vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 Update 2d, if the Windows Error Reporting Service is disabled, the VMware Directory Service (vmdird.exe) does not restart as required. When the vmdird.exe is unable to start, attempts to upgrade to vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 fail with the following error.

Error 1920. Service 'VMware Directory Service' (VMWareDirectoryService) failed to start. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to start system services.

You can also see the werfault.exe file running in the Task Manager when you encounter this problem.

Note: To avoid this issue, keep the Windows Error Reporting enabled during the upgrade process.

Workaround: To resolve this issue, stop the werfault.exe process from the Task Manager and the upgrade process will continue successfully.

Attempts to upgrade to vSphere Web Client 5.5 fails with an error if any of the vSphere Web Client SSL certificates are expiredWhen you attempt to upgrade vSphere Web Client from version 5.0 or 5.1 to 5.5, if any of the vSphere Web Client SSL certificates are expired, the installer fails with the following error message:

Error 29113. SSO registration failed

Workaround: To resolve this issue, check the validity of the SSL certificates of the vSphere Web Client and replace any expired SSL certificates with valid certificates before attempting the upgrade process again.

Storage profiles not visible in the vSphere Web client after you install and uninstall vCenter Server
If you uninstall vCenter Server from the Windows control panel item Add/Remove Programs or Programs and Features, Profile-Driven Storage is also uninstalled. When you reinstall vCenter Server, Profile-Driven Storage service is also installed, but you cannot see previously created Storage Profiles in the vSphere Web Client. New Storage Profiles can still be created.

Workaround: To uninstall vCenter Server without uninstalling Profile-Driven Storage, use an MSI command. Then, when you reinstall vCenter Server, either through the installer wizard or from the command line, you can still see previously created Storage Profiles in the vSphere Web Client.

To uninstall vCenter Server, use the following sample command as a model:msiexec.exe /x vCenter Server Product code
For example:msiexec.exe /x {E1F05550-4238-4378-87F0-105147A251D9}
The exact product code for vCenter can be obtained from the registry entry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\VMware vCenter Server.

Login might fail for Local OS users if vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 includes more than one node
The Local OS identity source is available after install or upgrade, as follows:

The vCenter Single Sign-On installer adds the Local OS identity source to the vCenter Single Sign-On configuration.
If you create more than one node, the Local OS from the primary node displays as an identity source on all other nodes.

If you upgrade a vCenter Single Sign-On High Availability environment, Local OS from the primary node displays as an identity source on all other nodes.
However, even though the Local OS from the first node displays as an identity source in secondary nodes, Local OS users from the first node cannot log in on those secondary nodes.

Workaround: None.

Installation using Simple Install fails on Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 2012 hosts
If you use Simple Install to install vCenter Server and components on a Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 2012 host, and the host is configured to use DHCP IP addressing, the installation fails with warning and error messages.

Workaround: Take one of the following actions.

On a Windows Server 2008 R2 or 2012 host: configure Windows Server to use a static IP and hostname.

On a Windows Server 2008 R2 host only: map the DHCP IP and hostname to the system's HOST file in the operating system.

During vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 installation, you cannot specify a host name that is different than the FQDN of the machine on which you are installing vCenter Single Sign-On
The vCenter Single Sign-On installer does not have the option to specify a host name during installation. The installer always uses the FQDN of the machine on which you are installing vCenter Single Sign-On. You cannot use a CNAME instead of the FQDN during installation.

Workaround: None.

Error message 25205 appears during installation of vCenter Server on Turkish version of Windows Server
On any Turkish version of Windows Server 2008 or 2012, when you install vCenter Server with the vCenter Server database on the same host machine, Error message 25205 appears.

Workaround: Install and run the vCenter Server database from a remote English version of Windows Server.

Simple Install checks space requirements only on system drive
Simple Install checks whether enough space is available before it starts the installation. However, it performs the check only if you install on a system drive. If you attempt to install on a non-system drive, the installer does not check whether enough space is available.

Workaround: Check the disk space available on the target drive before installation. The minimum required free space for Simple Install is 10GB. More space is recommended. See the Installation and Setup documentation.

If the vCenter Single Sign-On installation fails and rolls back, the vCenter Server Java
Components (JRE) and vCenter tc Server component remain installed
When the Single Sign-On installation is canceled or fails, the installation rolls back to the pre-installation state, and a message states that the system was not modified. However, the vCenter Server Java Components (JRE) and vCenter tc Server component are still installed.

Workaround: Remove the components manually in the Windows Programs and Feature control panel.

Workaround: Make sure the installation path contains only ASCII characters.

Installation of vCenter Server and related components fails if the user name of the logged-in user contains non-ASCII characters
If the user name of the user who is currently logged in contains non-ASCII characters, installation of vCenter Server, vCenter Inventory Server, vCenter Single Sign-On, or the vSphere Web Client fails with the error message: The user name contains non-ASCII characters. Please log in with a user name that contains only ASCII characters.

Workaround: Log in with a user name that does not contain non-ASCII characters and retry the installation.

The autoPartition boot option might partition SSDs unintentionally
In Visor (an ESXi dd image written to a device), the autoPartition boot option is set to TRUE by default. This setting causes all blank local disks, including SSDs that you might have intended to use with vFlash and Virtual SAN, to be partitioned.

Workaround: Add skipPartitioningSsds=TRUE to the boot options line.

During vCenter Server Simple Install, a dialog box displays a warning that a script is causing the browser to run slowly
The vCenter Server Simple Install option takes a significant amount of time to install or upgrade all required vCenter Server components. This might cause the Internet Explorer browser process that runs the vCenter Server installer autorun screen to display the following warning message:A script on this page is causing your browser to run slowly. If it continues to run, your computer might become unresponsive. Do you want to abort the script?

The warning dialog is displayed when the installation takes longer than the time set by the Windows registry entry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Styles\MaxScriptStatements

This issue has been observed most frequently on the Windows Server 2012 operating system.

Workaround: Click No in the warning message, or set the value for the MaxScriptStatements registry entry to 0xffffffff.

Upgrade to vCenter Server 5.5 does not detect expired SSL certificates
When you use Simple Install to upgrade to vCenter Server 5.5, the installer does not detect any expired SSL certificates.

If you upgrade from 5.1.x to 5.5 using the individual installers in a Custom Install, only the vSphere Web Client detects expired SSL certificates and stops the installation. vCenter Single Sign-On displays a generic warning message to verify the validity of SSL certificates. The vCenter Inventory Service and vCenter Server individual installers do not detect expired SSL certificates.

Workaround: Before you start the upgrade to vCenter Server 5.5, using either Simple Install or the individual installers in a Custom Install, check the validity of the SSL certificates of vCenter Single Sign-On, the vSphere Web Client, vCenter Inventory Service, and vCenter Server. Replace any expired SSL certificates with valid certificates before starting the upgrade process.

Storage profiles without storage capabilities might be missing after you upgrade vCenter Server to version 5.5
After you upgrade to vCenter Server 5.5, storage profiles that you created with an earlier version of vCenter Server are not visible in the vSphere Web Client. This problem affects only storage profiles that do not have any storage capabilities attached.

Workaround: Before you perform an upgrade, attach storage capabilities to the storage profiles that need to be available in vCenter Server 5.5. After the upgrade, the existing storage capabilities are converted into tags in the Legacy User Label category, and the storage profiles are converted into storage policies referencing these tags.

After you upgrade vCenter Single Sign-On 5.1.x in a high availability deployment with a load balancer to version 5.5, you must reconfigure the load balancer
During the upgrade from vCenter Single Sign-On 5.1 to 5.5, the file server.xml is migrated, but you must update the file manually after the upgrade.

Workaround: See the topic Reconfigure the Load Balancer After Upgrading a vCenter Single Sign-On High Availability Deployment to Version 5.5 in the vSphere Upgrade documentation.

vCenter Server 5.1 not visible after you upgrade vSphere Web Client and vCenter Single Sign-On to version 5.5
Suppose you upgrade vSphere Single Sign-On and the vSphere Web Client from version 5.1 to version 5.5, but you do not upgrade the vCenter Server system. If you log in to the vSphere Web Client after the upgrade, vCenter Server system version 5.1 is not visible. This is a problem only for the Windows upgrade, and not when you upgrade vCenter Server Appliance.

Workaround: Restart the vCenter Server system and the vSphere Inventory service (services.msc). To see the vCenter Server 5.1 inventory, log in as admin@System-Domain. See VMware Knowledge Base article 1003895.

The VMware VirtualCenter Server service might not start after you upgrade vCenter Server from version 5.0 Update 2 to version 5.5

Workaround: Start the VMware VirtualCenter Server service manually:

From the Windows Start menu, open the Administrative Tools control panel item.

Select Services.

Right-click VMware VirtualCenter Server and select Start.

vSphere Client and vSphere PowerCLI might fail to connect to vCenter Server 5.5, with a handshake failure
When installed on a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 host machine, the vSphere Client and vSphere PowerCLI might fail to connect to vCenter Server 5.5, with a handshake failure. vSphere 5.5 uses the Open SSL library, which, for security, is configured by default to accept only connections that use strong cipher suites. On Windows XP or Windows Server 2003, the vSphere Client and vSphere PowerCLI do not use strong cipher suites to connect with vCenter Server. The error No matching cipher suite is shown on the server side, and the handshake fails on the vSphere Client or vSphere PowerCLI side.

For Windows XP 32 bit, Windows XP 64 bit, or Windows Server 2003, take one of the following actions.

Before you install the vSphere Client or vSphere PowerCLI on the host machine, upgrade the Windows operating system to Windows Vista or later.

On the vCenter Server host machine, reduce the implied security by allowing the server to communicate using weak cipher suites. To do this, include the following section in the vCenter Server vpxd.cfg file:<config>
...
<vmacore>
...
<ssl>
...
<cipherList>ALL</cipherList>
...
</ssl>
...
</vmacore>
...
</config>

Networking is lost after you upgrade the vCenter Server Appliance, if the existing vCenter Server Appliance has a static IP configuration and the existing vCenter Server Appliance and the upgraded vCenter Server Appliance are in different subnets
Networking is lost after you upgrade a vCenter Server Appliance configured with both of the following conditions:

The existing vCenter Server Appliance has a static IP configuration.

The existing vCenter Server Appliance and the upgraded vCenter Server Appliance are in different subnets.

Workaround: To restore networking:

Log in to the vCenter Server Appliance through the virtual machine console.

Run /opt/vmware/share/vami/vami_config_net to reconfigure networking.

Attempts to upgrade the vSphere Web Client to version 5.5 results in warning message: Error: 29108
During the upgrade of the vSphere Web Client to version 5.5, the following warning message is displayed: Error: 29108. The unregistration of the service or Solution user failed.. This error occurs because the installer is unable to remove the application user programmatically.

Workaround:

Record the exact vSphere Web Client solution user named in the warning message.

Click OK to dismiss the warning message and complete the upgrade to version 5.5 of the vSphere Web Client.

Log in to the vSphere Web Client as the Single Sign-On administrator

In Administration, under Single Sign-On, click Users and Groups, and click the Application Users tab.

To remove the solution the application user named in the warning message, select the row for that user and click Delete.

The vSphere Web Client service does not start after upgrade of the vCenter Server Appliance
When you upgrade the vCenter Server appliance from version 5.0 or 5.1 to version 5.5, the vSphere Web Client service does not start and the following messages appear in the Virgo Server log:
[ERROR] startup-tracker org.eclipse.virgo.medic.eventlog.default KE0004E Kernel failed to start within 300 seconds.
[INFO ] startup-tracker org.eclipse.virgo.medic.eventlog.default KE0011I Immediate shutdown initiated.

Workaround: Start the vSphere Web Client service by using the vCenter Server Appliance management interface.

Internationalization

Unable to display the guest operating system console in the vSphere Web Client UI when you use high-ASCII or non-ASCII characters in the virtual machine name *
If you use high-ASCII or non-ASCII characters in the virtual machine name, the virtual machine does not display guest operating system console in vSphere Web Client UI. This issue occurs when you use Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome and select the Launch Console option to open the virtual machine console in the vSphere Web Client.

Workaround: Enable or install VMware Remote Console Plug-in using the Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome browser. Alternatively, you can also use Internet Explorer that uses VMware Remote Console (VMRC) by default.

Export of OVF Template fails in Traditional Chinese locale if the virtual machine name contains non-ASCII characters
Attempts to export an OVF template fail in Traditional Chinese locale when using the Windows Server 2012 R2 operating system with Internet Explorer 11 and if the virtual machine name contains any non-ASCII characters.

vSphere Web Client in some localized languages automatically selects the first character using the Microsoft Input Method Editor in the Search box
When you run the vSphere Web Client in Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, or Korean locale and attempt to enter local characters using Microsoft Input Method Editor (IME) in the Search box, the first character in the list automatically gets selected.

Workaround: To resolve this issue, enter a blank space before selecting any character.

In the vSphere Web Client UI, the Microsoft IME Search box does not follow the mouse cursor when you type in non-ASCII characters
In vSphere Web Client UI, when you attempt to type in non-ASCII characters in the Microsoft Input Method Editor (IME) Search box, the mouse cursor does not appear in the field if you are using the Firefox browser. The typed text appears at the bottom of the browser. This issue occurs with Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Korean locale.

Workaround: To resolve this issue, take one of the following actions:

Use Internet Explorer or Chrome browser or,

Use a third-party IME with Firefox

New users with native high-ASCII password cannot log in using vSphere Web Client
When a new user attempts to log in for the first time using the vSphere Web Client with a high-ASCII password in French and German locales, the log in attempt fails.

Workaround: To resolve this issue, log in as a vSphere Single Sign On (SSO) administrator and add any single ASCII character to the new user's existing high-ASCII password.

vCenter Single Sign-On

Turning on the SSL validation after configuring IDS with 'domain name' in the connection string not working on Linux*
After you install VCVA 5.5 Update 3, if you select "Active Directory as a LDAP server" as the Identity source type and use LDAPS with domain name entry, you will encounter a Server Authentication/Referral error on Linux.

Workaround: To resolve this issue include the domain name in SAN in the LDAPS certificate for the IDS.

Cannot change the password of administrator@vsphere.local from the vSphere Web Client pulldown menu*
When you log in to the vCenter Single Sign-On server from the vSphere Web Client, you can perform a password change from the pulldown menu. When you log in as administrator@vsphere.local the Change Password option is grayed out.

Workaround:

Select the Manage tab, and select vCenter Single Sign-On > Users and Groups.

Right-click the administrator user and click Edit User.

Change the password.

Error 29107 appears during vSphere Web Client upgrade from version 5.1 Update 1a to 5.5
During an upgrade of a vSphere Web Client from version 5.1 Update U1a to version 5.5, Error 29107 appears if the vCenter Single Sign-On service that was in use before the upgrade is configured as High Availability Single Sign-On.

Workaround: Perform the upgrade again. You can run the installer and select Custom Install to upgrade only the vSphere Web Client.

After removing a UPN suffix from the domain, a user with that UPN suffix is still able to log in
A user with a UPN suffix that is removed from the domain is still able to login for up to six hours. The Identity Manager takes up to six hours to reflect the change.

Workaround: None.

After upgrading to vCenter Server 5.5 Update 2d from earlier versions of vCenter Server 5.5, attempts to log in to the vSphere Web Client on vCenter Virtual Appliance fail with an error After you upgrade to vCenter Server 5.5 Update 2d from earlier versions of vCenter Server 5.5, attempts to log in to the vSphere Web Client on the vCenter Virtual Appliance fail with the following error message:

Automatic regeneration of the SSL certificate does not resolve the problem.

Workaround: To resolve this issue, open a Secure Shell (SSH) connection to the vCenter Virtual Appliance and run the following commands to forcibly regenerate the vCenter Server and the vCenter Single Sign-On certificates:

vdcadmintool might generate password for vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 with unsupported characters
If you use the vdcadmintool utility available at ...\VMware\Infrastructure\VMware\CIS\vmdird\vdcadmintool.exe to generate passwords, and if the password generated by the utility has invalid or unsupported characters such as semicolon (;), double quotation mark ("), circumflex (^), backslash (\) or high-ASCII, the next time you attempt to upgrade vCenter Single Sign-On, the upgrade might fail.

Workaround: If you have used the vdcadmintool utility to generate password for administrator@vsphere.local, change the password for the user by using the vSphere Web Client.

Error after switchover/failover on systems upgraded from vSphere 5.1 Update 1a to vSphere 5.5 that use vCenter Heartbeat
An environment starts with the following configuration:
vCenter Server 5.1U1a with vCenter Single Sign-On, Inventory Service and the vSphere Web Client, plus vCenter Heartbeat 6.5U1.
You upgrade to vCenter Server 5.5, and upgrade vCenter Single Sign-On, Inventory Service and the vSphere Web Client at the same time. You upgrade vCenter Heartbeat to version 6.6.
All the VMware components and services start successfully on the primary/active node.
If the primary node goes down and you activate the secondary node, the following error appears in the vpxd log when the vCenter Server service starts on the secondary/active node:Unable to create SSO facade: Invalid response code: 404 Not Found..
The vpxd service does not start on the secondary node.

Workaround: If you install the new versions of vCenter Server and vCenter Heartbeat instead of performing an upgrade, the second node starts up as expected.
If Single Sign-On must be upgraded rather that a fresh install on a different virtual machine, follow the procedures listed in KB 2059820.

If Active Directory services and vCenter services are in different locations, a login by a user who belongs to over 500 groups might take a long time
Your environment uses an Active Directory setup. This setup is in a different location from vCenter Server and its services. As a result, when a user who belongs to over 500 Active Directory groups logs in with the vSphere Web Client, login might take 10-20 minutes. With the vSphere Client, login for that user might time out.

Workaround: Change your setup so the Active Directory services and the vCenter Server system are in the same location, or log in as a user who does not belong to so many Active Directory groups.

Auto-discovery of Active Directory settings no longer supported with vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5
The vSphere 5.1 vCenter Single Sign-On version included an autodiscovery feature. That feature was removed from the vSphere 5.5 vCenter Single Sign-On service.

Workaround: Log in to vCenter Single Sign-On from the vSphere Web Client as a user with vCenter Single Sign-On administrator privileges and add the identity source manually. By default, administrator@vsphere.local has vCenter Single Sign-On administrator privileges.

After upgrade, domain administrators, who are part of the local administrators group, cannot log in to vCenter Server
In your vSphere 5.1 environment, you gave permissions to the local administrators group, which implicitly includes the domain administrator group. You can log in to vCenter Server 5.1 as a member of the domain administrator group.
However, when you upgrade to vSphere 5.5, the domain administrator users no longer have the permissions to log in to vCenter Server. Permissions for local users are maintained after the upgrade.

Workaround: The simplest solution is to log in to vCenter Server as administrator@vsphere.local and to assign permissions directly to the domain administrators group. If other local users who were not inside a subdomain had permissions to manage to vCenter Server users before the upgrade, those users can also log in to vCenter Server and assign permissions to the domain administrators group or any other group.

vCenter Single Sign-On installation fails on Windows Server 2008 SP1
When you attempt to install vCenter Single Sign-On on Windows 2008 SP1 (64 bit), the following warning appears:This application is only supported on windows server 2008 64bit, or higher. Make sure windows is not running as domain controller.
Installation does not complete.

No error occurs when you replace the certificate for a service with a certificate already in use by a different service
If you are using the Certificate Automation Tool to replace certificates, and you respond to the prompts by replacing an existing certificate with a certificate that is already in use by a different service, the tool does not display an error message. The tool proceeds with the replacement. Because each service must have a unique certificate in the vCenter installation on Windows, authentication does not work properly.

Workaround: None. Keep track of the certificates that you are using for the different services.

Login with vCenter Single Sign-On might require inclusion of domain name
In vSphere 5.5, vCenter Single Sign-On no longer supports multiple default domains. This might cause problems for users who attempt to log in to a vCenter Server system that is installed on Windows, or for users who log in to the vCenter Server Appliance.

Workaround: Include the domain prefix with the user name when you log in to a nondefault domain. For example, the user root on the local operating system can log in as localos\root. The user user1 in the domain DOMAIN1 can log in as DOMAIN1\user1.
This behavior is not considered a bug, but included in the release notes for completeness.

vCenter Single Sign-On installation fails if the destination folder includes non-ASCII or high ASCII characters
If you change the destination folder for vCenter Single Sign-On during installation, and if the new destination folder that you select includes non-ASCII or high ASCII characters, no warning appears but installation fails.

Workaround: Select destination folders that contain ASCII characters. Special characters are not allowed and generate the error listed in the next known issue.

vCenter Single Sign-On fails if the installation folder includes special characters
If you attempt to install vCenter Single Sign-On in a custom location, and the destination folder name includes characters such as percent (%) or ampersand (&), the installation fails. An error message similar to the following appears:Error 20020. Failed to update values in server.xml file

Workaround: None. See the vSphere Installation and Setup documentation for a complete list of disallowed characters.

Networking

Attempts to name a Link Aggregation Group (LAG) port by using surrogate pair characters fails
In the vSphere Web Client, if you try to rename a LAG port and the new name contains surrogate pair characters, the following error message appears: The port name is not valid. Specify a valid port name. Surrogate pair is a pair of 16-bit values that UTF-16 uses to represent characters that require more than 16 bits.

Workaround: Do not use surrogate pair characters when you name LAG ports.

Virtual SAN

vCenter Server might stop responding when Virtual SAN VASA provider is being re-registered
The vCenter Server might stop responding, if the host is being rebooted or if there is an issue with the connection to the host, when a Virtual SAN VASA provider is being re-registered after a prior failure.

Workaround: None.

Virtual SAN data store displays the Total capacity inclusive of capacity of both healthy and unhealthy disks
When you select a Virtual SAN Cluster and navigate to Manage > Virtual SAN > General, the Total capacity of Virtual SAN data store label value displays the storage capacity inclusive of both healthy and unhealthy disks even if the host is unreachable or if the disk is experiencing any issue. Although, the capacity of unhealthy disks is included in the total capacity it is not available for use.

Workaround: None.

Deleting any one of the two folders generated when a virtual machine is created in a Virtual SAN data store might result in deletion of the virtual machine
When you create a virtual machine in Virtual SAN data store, two folders are generated. The first folder named as the virtual machine name is the symlink to the other folder with the virtual machine's Universally Unique Identifier (UUID). Deleting either one of these results in deletion of the other folder and might lead to deletion of the virtual machine itself.

You can view these folders after logging in to vCenter Server using vSphere Web Client and vSphere Client respectively, performing the following actions:

Storage profile compliance status displayed incorrectly in the Virtual SAN User Interface
In an multinode Virtual SAN cluster with 100 virtual machines per node, when you migrate the VMs to other hosts, some of VMs show their storage profile compliance status as Unknown or Not Compliant, even though all the VM components are active. You can view the compliance status by navigating from vSphere Web Client Home Page > Rules and Profiles > VM Storage Profiles > click on the storage profile you want to check > Monitor > check the compliance status under VM and Virtual Disks.

Workaround: To resolve this issue, you must run the compliance check to refresh the compliance status. You can run the compliance check by following these steps:

Navigate to Rules and Profiles > VM Storage Profiles.

Click on the storage profile you want to check.

Go to Summary.

Click on Check Compliance.

Storage

Renamed tags appear as missing in the Edit VM Storage Policy wizard
A virtual machine storage policy can include rules based on data store tags. If you rename a tag, the storage policy that references this tag does not automatically update the tag and shows it as missing.

Workaround: Remove the tag marked as missing from the virtual machine storage policy and then add the renamed tag. Reapply the storage policy to all out-of-date entities.

Cannot configure a virtual machine with 4 MB of Flash Read Cache and a block size greater than 16 KB
When adding Flash Read Cache to a virtual machine, attempting to configure 4 MB of cache with a block size of 16 KB or greater fails. You see an error message similar to the following:

Increase the cache reservation size or decrease the block size to comply with the limits listed in the above description.

Click OK to save your changes.

Cannot power on or enlarge the cache reservation of virtual machines that have a virtual
Flash Read Cache reservation
When a virtual machine that has a virtual Flash Read Cache reservation is powered on, the host it resides on
uses normal RAM memory to manage the flash reservation. If insufficient memory is available, the virtual machine
cannot power on. If the virtual machine is running and you enlarge the Flash Read Cache reservation, the operation
fails with a runtime error because the cache cannot be attached.

Workaround: Move the virtual machine to another host or reduce the memory requirements of Flash Read Cache
by configuring a larger Flash Read Cache block size for the affected virtual machine or for another
virtual machine running on the same host. You can also reduce the Flash Read Cache
reservation of one or more of the virtual machines that reside on the host. After you make these changes,
try again to power on or reconfigure the virtual machine.
Follow the Flash Read Cache configuration recommendations in the vSphere Storage documentation to
minimize the possibility of such errors.

vCenter Server, vSphere Client, and vSphere Web Client

NewUpdating vCenter Server 5.5.x to 5.5 Update 3 fails with an error
Updating vCenter Server 5.5.x to Update 3 fails with an error similar to the following:

Warning 32014. A utility for phone home data collector couldn't be executed successfully Please see its log file (with name PhoneHome) and vminst.log in system temporary folder for more details.

This issue occurs due to a numbering conflict when deploypkg.dll is left in the Windows patch cache from previous updates.

Workaround: To prevent this issue from occurring perform the following steps:

In vCenter Server machine,

Navigate to C:\Windows\Installer\$PatchCache$\Managed\05550F1E83248734780F0115742A159D\5.5.0

This issue occurs when the vCenter Server Appliance 5.5 Update 3 is deployed with an embedded vPostgres database.

Workaround: Upgrade to vCenter Server 5.5 Update3a. For more details see KB 2134272.

Missing or stale object(s) visible in vSphere Web Client
You might see missing or stale objects in vSphere Web Client.

Workaround: To resolve this issue, you can purge data from Individual Data Providers. See KB 2133427

vCenter Server shows gaps in performance data for some ESXi hosts
vCenter Server shows gaps in performance data for some ESXi hosts. Custom performance chart of overview for some ESXi hosts is missing in vCenter Server between a specific time range. For example, on a given date, data between 09:00 PM to 09:30 PM is unavailable.

Workaround: None

Attempts to migrate multiple virtual machines using the vSphere Web Client 5.5 Update 3 fails
Attempts to migrate multiple virtual machines in a mixed power state using the vSphere Web Client fails. Due to this the vSphere Web Client status shows as busy.

Workaround: When migrating multiple virtual machines make sure they all are in the same power state.

Safari browser on MAC OS fails with an error when the VMware vSphere Web Client console is launched
Attempting to open VMware vSphere Web Client console on intranet using a safari browser in a system with MAC OS might display an error similar to the following:
"The console has been disconnected. Close this window and relaunch the console to reconnect"

Unable to change tenant admin password and unable to access tenant org
You might be unable to change the tenant admin password and as a result you might be unable to access tenant org.
Error message similar to the following might be displayed in the log file:Account "cn=tenantadmin,cn=users,dc=qic" password expired and caused login/bind from IDM to fail.
2014-03-18T11:38:46-06:00 denqca3vcacid01 vmdird: t@140689332778752: LoginBlocked DN (cn=tenantadmin,cn=users,dc=qic), error (9239)(Account access blocked)

Enter the following details when prompted for the Account Distinguished Name:cn=Administrator,cn=users,dc=vSphere,dc=local

A new password is generated. Use this password to log in to the administrator@vSphere.local account.
Note: The password generated is a random password. Re-generate the password if the generated password contains unsupported character. Repeat this step until an appropriate password is generated.

Unable to add or edit new hardware version 10 devices while editing a virtual machine of version 10, using the vSphere client
You are unable to add or edit new devices supported by a virtual machine with hardware version 10 (vmx-10) using the vSphere Client (C# Client). The vmx-10 devices such as SATA controller, SATA disks, and so on, might be displayed as inconsistent when you attempt to edit them using the vSphere Client (C# Client) tab.

Workaround: Use the vSphere Web Client to add or edit vmx-10 devices.

Timestamp for alerts or warnings issued are not updated in the Triggered column when using the vSphere Client
When using the vSphere Client, on the vCenter Service Status page, the timestamp for alerts or warnings issued is not displayed in the Triggered column.

Workaround: None.

Drive information dialog box is not displayed when a mouse is placed over the vCenter Database warning if you use the vSphere Web Client
When using the vSphere Web Client, if you navigate to Monitor > Service Health tab and hover the mouse pointer over the vCenter Database error message in the Message column, the drive information dialog box that should display details such as Free space, Used space, and Total Space is not displayed.

Workaround: None.

After you upgrade from vCenter Server 5.5 Update 1 to Update 2, the vCenter Server might not be visible on the vSphere Web Client
If you have upgraded the vCenter Server using the upgrade path, vCenter Server 5.1 > 5.5 > 5.5 Update 1 > 5.5 Update 2, and you log in to vSphere Web Client with user admin@system-domain, the vCenter Server is not visible in the Inventory List on the vCenter Home page. This issue occurs because of an incorrect change in the registry key value.

Workaround: To resolve this issue follow these steps:

Change the registry value of SPSystemDomainBackCompat to 1.

Restart vCenter Single Sign-On and the VMware VirtualCenter Server service.

Storage profiles attached to some disks might not be visible in the vSphere Web Client UI
When you deploy virtual machines, the storage policies for some of the disks might not be visible in the vSphere Web Client UI under the Manage > VM Storage Policies tab.

Workaround: None.

Warning message persistently is displayed after Virtual SAN is disabled on a cluster
If no disk groups are created for a Virtual SAN enabled cluster, a warning message similar to the following is displayed on the Cluster Summary page:

vsan datastore datastore1 in cluster **** in datacenter **** does not have capacity

The error message continues to persist even after disabling Virtual SAN on the cluster. The issue does not occur if there are one or more disk groups created for a Virtual SAN cluster before disabling Virtual SAN on the cluster.

Workaround: None.

Client Integration Plug-In might not work as expected if you log in to the vSphere Web Client using Internet Explorer 11
When you log in to the vSphere Web Client using Internet Explorer 11 and perform tasks related to Client Integration Plug-In, you might encounter issues listed here:

Attempts to launch a virtual machine console, where you have upgraded from Internet Explorer version 8 to version 11, fail with the following error message:

Remote Console is connecting

Attempts to connect to client device fails.

You cannot mount CD/DVD drive from local disk to a CD/DVD device.

Workaround: To resolve this issue use one of the following options:

Use Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, or earlier versions of Internet Explorer to access the vSphere Web Client. You can also use vSphere Client instead of vSphere Web Client to work around this issue.

Launch the Internet Explorer in compatibility mode using the following steps:

Launch the Internet Explorer.

Go to Tools > Compatibility View Settings.

Add the vSphere Web Client IP address to the list of Websites.

Reload the Internet Explorer

Attempts to export log bundle using the Log Browser fail with vCenter Server 5.5
When you attempt to export a log bundle using the Log Browser interface after you upgrade from vCenter Server 5.5 version, the browser window displays a Secure Connection Failed error page with the following message:

Your certificate contains the same serial number as another certificate issued by the certificate authority. Please get a new certificate containing a unique serial number.

Workaround: You can perform one of the following:

To resolve problems with the Log Browser export, replace the default Log Browser SSL certificate with the signed SSL certificate using the SSL Certificate Automation Tool. See KB 2057340.

Note: The Log Browser and the Web Client SSL certificate are identical and are updated at the same time using the SSL Certificate Automation Tool.

Or

Use the System Logs tool for retrieving the support bundle for earlier versions of vCenter Server, perform the following steps:

In vSphere Web Client, navigate to vCenter Server or ESXi.

On the Monitor tab, click System Logs.

Click Export System Logs.

vCenter Server Appliance sets a wrong host name after deployment
If the vCenter Server Appliance is deployed with OVF environment that has static IP configuration and the host name is blank, reverse lookup from the IP is not performed properly.

Workaround: Explicitly set the vCenter Server Appliance host name you want in the OVF properties during deployment. See KB 2065275.

When you disable DRS in the vSphere Web Client, you are prompted to save the resource pool structure so that it can be reloaded in the future. The default extension of this file is .snapshot, but you can select a different extension for this file. If the file has a custom extension, it appears as disabled when you try to load it. This behavior is observed only on OS X.

Workaround: Change the extension to .snapshot to load it in the vSphere Web Client on OS X.

DRS error message appears on the host summary page
The following DRS error message appears on the host summary page:

Unable to apply DRS resource settings on host. The operation is not allowed in the current state. This can significantly reduce the effectiveness of DRS.

In some configurations a race condition might result in the creation of an error message in the log that is not meaningful or actionable. This error might occur if a virtual machine is unregistered at the same time that DRS resource settings are applied.

Workaround: Ignore this error message.

Attempts to disable IPv4 from DHCP to None in the Web console of a VMware vCenter Server Appliance that has IPv4 and IPv6 enabled fails with the error message Failed to set network settings
By default, both IPv4 and IPv6 are enabled on the default virtual network adapter of the vCenter Server Appliance. To disable IPv4 and use only IPv6, you log in to the Web Console at https://vCenter_Server_Appliance_IP_address:5480, click Network and on the Address tab for the default network adapter change the value of IPv4 Address Type from DHCP to None. When you try to save the changes, the error message Failed to set network settings appears.

Workaround: Set IPv4 Address Type to Static and then change it to None.

On the Address tab for the default network adapter change the value of IPv4 Address Type from DHCP to Static and save the changes.

Change the value of IPv4 Address Type from Static to None and save the changes.

VMware vCenter Server Appliance database disk usage
vCenter Server Appliance with the vPostgres embedded database might run out of disk space for the disk
partition. This might be caused by large or dynamic inventory retention settings. In most situations,
vPostgres disk space is filled by historical data kept for statistics, events, and tasks collected by
vCenter Server.

Workaround:
Change the vCenter Server data retention settings. Instructions can be found in the vSphere documentation:

For statistics, see "Configuring Statistics Settings in the vSphere Web Client" in vCenter Server
and Host Management.

For events and tasks, see "Configuring vCenter Server in the vSphere Web Client" in vCenter Server
and Host Management.

vCenter Server Appliance large scale
deployment requirements
For vCenter Server Appliance to manage large scale deployments, you must connect to a remote database and modify the virtual machine
settings. See Configure Inventory Size for the VMware vCenter Server Appliance in vCenter Server and Host
Management for information about memory and sizing options.

Workaround:

Ensure that virtual machines are configured with a minimum memory and CPU requirements.
For information about virtual machine configuration, see Configuring Virtual Machines in
vSphere Virtual Machine Administration. See Configure Inventory Size for the VMware vCenter Server Appliance in vCenter Server and Host
Management for information about memory options.

Log into the vCenter Server Appliance administration interface at
https://IP address or FQDN of vCenter Server Appliance:5480 and navigate to
Services. In the Inventory Size drop-down menu, select large
and click Save Settings.

The Client Integration Plug-in for the vSphere Web Client 5.5 is supported only on Mac OS 10.7 and later
The Client Integration Plug-in for the vSphere Web Client 5.5 is supported only on Mac OS 10.7 and later. On Mac OS 10.6.x or earlier, either the Client Support Plug-in does not register properly in the browser, or the OVF Tool displays runtime errors during OVF and OVA uploads or downloads.

Workaround: Upgrade the Mac OS to 10.7 or 10.8.

Default folder names generated by the vCenter Server Appliance do not reflect the browser's language setting
When you access the vCenter Server Appliance using the vSphere Web Client, default folder names generated by the server, such as Discovered Virtual Machines, do not reflect the browser's language setting.

Log in to the vCenter Server Appliance configuration interface at https://hostname:5480.

On the vCenter Server tab, select Summary.

Click Stop vCenter.

Click Start vCenter.

Attempts to log in using the vSphere Client to vCenter Server fail with an error stating that an unknown connection error occurred
Attempts to log in using the vSphere Client installed on Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 to a vCenter Sever fail with the following error: An unknown connection error occurred. (The Client could not send a complete request to the server. (The underlying connection was closed: An unexpected error occurred on a send.)). The error is caused by the lack of support for some SSL ciphers on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

No hotfix is available for Windows XP (32 bit). Microsoft provides limited support for Windows XP, and the hotfix has not been released for it. You must upgrade your host operating system to Windows Vista or later, which supports the use of high cipher strengths.

You cannot view the Solutions tab of the EAM Sample Solution in Internet Explorer
When you click the Solutions tab of the EAM Sample Solution in the vSphere Web Client, an error message might appear: Navigation to the webpage was canceled.

Workaround: View the Solutions tab of the EAM Sample Solution in another browser, such as Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.
Alternatively, install the EAM Sample Solution SSL certificate in Internet Explorer.

In Internet Explorer, navigate to the EAM Sample Solution management page at the address that you specify while setting up the EAM Sample Solution.The default URL is http://<IP_adress_of_machine_where_you_install_the_solution>:8080/eam-sample.

vCenter Server Appliance checks user permissions based on case-insensitive user name matching
In previous vSphere releases, the vCenter Server Appliance used case-sensitive matching for user names when checking user permissions. In the vSphere 5.5 release, the vCenter Server Appliance uses case-insensitive matching for user names when checking permissions. This means that two users whose user names differ only in case (for example, User1 and user1) are treated as the same user when vCenter Server checks permissions.

Workaround: If your vCenter Server Appliance has users whose names differ only in case, rename at least one of the users, and reassign permissions to the renamed users.

Error message appears and no vCenter Server instances are available in the vSphere Web Client inventory after you log in
You might encounter this problem when the vCenter Server instance is managing an inventory that is too large and operating under a heavy load.

Workaround: Log out and log in to the vSphere Web Client. If this does not resolve the problem, verify that your vSphere environment is running within the recommended configuration maximums.

Virtual Machine Management

vCenter Database parameters for Warning and Alert not displayed in the Advanced Settings tab
After you perform a minor upgrade to vCenter Server 5.5 Update 2b and log in to vCenter Server using the vSphere Client or the vSphere Web Client, the Warning parameter config.vpxd.vdb.space.warningMB and the Alert parameter config.vpxd.vdb.space.alertMB are not displayed under vCenter Server Settings > Advanced Settings tab or in the vpxd.cfg file. Although, the parameters are missing, they are triggered at the default values of 5000 MB and 1000 MB respectively.

Workaround: To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

Log in to vCenter Server using the vSphere Client or the vSphere Web Client

Go to vCenter Server Settings > Advanced Settings

Add the parameters config.vpxd.vdb.space.warningMB for warning and config.vpxd.vdb.space.alertMB for alert as shown in the example here:

Virtual machine guest OS does not detect Control key sent from HTML 5 console in Chrome
When you attempt to sent a Control command to a virtual machine from an HTML 5 console in Chrome, the guest operating system does not react.

Workaround: Use an HTML 5 console in Firefox, or use the virtual machine console in the vSphere Web Client.

Virtual Machines report USB connection errors when connecting to USB devices attached to a Mac OS X client computer
When you connect USB devices to virtual machines from a Mac OS X client computer, you
see an Error connecting device message in the following cases:

You connect more than one USB device or hub to a virtual machine from a Mac OS X client computer.

You add a USB device when multiple devices are incorrectly listed as available to connect to the USB controller on the virtual machine, but the devices are already in use by another virtual machine or by the client computer.

Workaround: Ensure that another virtual machine or client computer is not using the USB device, and connect only one USB device or
hub from a Mac OS X client computer to a virtual machine.

Migration

Virtual machine drag and drop is not supported across hosts
You use the vSphere Web Client and attempt to drag and drop a
virtual machine from one host to another. A red X indicates that drag and drop
is not supported.

Workaround: Use the Migrate VM action or right-click the virtual machine and
select Move to to start the migration wizard.

Changing datastores through migration is not allowed if the number of virtual disks is greater than 64
Storage vMotion and vMotion without shared storage support migration of a virtual machine with up to 64 virtual disks. If the number of virtual disks to be moved is greater than 64, the migration operation is not allowed.
However, if you use Storage vMotion to selectively move less than 64 disks or to move only the home directory of the virtual machine, the operation succeeds even for the virtual machine with the maximum supported number of virtual disks.

Workaround:

For Storage vMotion, perform multiple migrations, each with up to 64 disks.
Use the Advanced option on the Migrate virtual machine wizard to select disks to migrate and to specify the datastore location.

For vMotion without shared storage, power off the virtual machine to perform migration.

A successful Storage vMotion operation in a vSphere HA cluster might result in an orphaned virtual machine
After you migrate a virtual machine with Storage vMotion in a vSphere HA cluster, an orphaned virtual machine with the same name might remain in the vCenter Server inventory. This error can occur if vSphere HA attempts to restart the virtual machine that is being migrated, before the Storage vMotion workflow finishes. The attempt can be triggered in situations such as the following:

The master host detects a possible failure impacting the virtual machine, such as a network interruption.

In an environment without Virtual SAN, the master hosts regains access to the virtual machine datastore.

In an environment with Virtual SAN, the master host detects a change in Virtual SAN object accessibility. For example, the host has recently rejoined the Virtual SAN network after a network partition.

Workaround: Delete the orphaned virtual machine.

VMware HA and Fault Tolerance

X-vMotion of a Virtual SAN virtual machine out of an HA cluster might result in an alarm
When you perform an X-vMotion of a Virtual SAN virtual machine from High Availability (HA) cluster to a different cluster and to a different storage, the virtual machine reports an alarm similar to the following:

vSphere HA virtual machine failover failed

Workaround: None.

When you enable admission control for a vSphere HA cluster, an error message
is shown
When you enable admission control on a vSphere HA cluster with powered-on virtual machines,
the following error message appears: An internal error has occurred - Unknown property: '-1.

Workaround: The message has no functional impact, but you must reload the client to continue.

vSphere HA might fail to restart a virtual machine with a vSphere Flash Read Cache reservation
When a virtual machine with a vSphere Flash Read Cache reservation is powered on, the host it resides on uses some normal (RAM) memory to manage this flash reservation. If sufficient memory is not available, then the virtual machine power on fails. vSphere HA retries such failed power on operations but only four more times. If the fifth power on attempt fails, vSphere HA issues an event reporting that the maximum number of restart attempts has been reached. Note: To list the vSphere HA issued events, you can search the event history for the phrase "vSphere HA".

Workaround: If vSphere HA fails to restart a virtual machine and you observe a vSphere HA event reporting that the maximum number of attempts have been made to restart it, attempt to power on the virtual machine manually on one of the hosts. If the power on operation fails and a reason is given, address that issue.

However, if this power on task fails for an unexplained reason or if the task error stack reports that the vSphere Flash Read Cache cannot be attached, either try another host or reduce the memory needs of the vSphere Flash Read Cache and try again. You can do this by either

configuring a larger vSphere Flash Read Cache block size for the virtual machine or another virtual machine running on the same host, or

significantly reducing the vSphere Flash Read Cache reservation of one or more of these virtual machines.

If you follow the vSphere Flash Read Cache configuration recommendations documented in the vSphere Storage guide and the vSphere 5.5 Beta Release Notes, you can minimize the possibility of encountering this type of error.

vSphere HA does not reattempt the placement of virtual machines that failed due to anti-affinity constraints, after changes are made to the vm-vm anti-affinity rule
If vSphere HA fails to restart a virtual machine due to an anti-affinity constraint, no re-attempt is made if you change the vm-vm anti-affinity rule or remove it.

Workaround: The vSphere HA master host reattempts placing a virtual machine waiting for resources after the unreserved capacity in the cluster is increased. To increase this capacity, power off a virtual machine, migrate it to another cluster using vMotion, then

bring back on-line a failed host, or

add another host to the cluster, or

reduce the resources reserved by any of the powered-on virtual machines.

Under certain conditions, a virtual machine does not reset despite the appState being appStateNeedReset
A virtual machine is not reset if the needReset appstate is issued using the Application Monitoring GuestSDK when the virtual machine is on a standalone host and the host is moved to a cluster which has VM and App Monitoring enabled. This could also occur if the FDM process restarts on the host while the needReset request is pending. For example this error can occur when reconfiguring vSphere HA or if the service crashes after a needReset state has been issued for a virtual machine using the Application Monitoring GuestSDK.

Workaround: Trigger a blank Reconfigure cluster task for the vSphere HA cluster containing the hosts. The virtual machine's needReset state is picked up by the FDM on the host, which resets the virtual machine. In the vSphere Web Client go to the Edit Cluster Settings panel and click Edit. Press OK on the Cluster Settings panel without changing anything on the cluster. This triggers a blank Reconfigure cluster task.

Miscellaneous

Error messages appear when you attempt to log in to the vSphere Web Client by using Google Chrome on Mac OS X 10.7.x in certain language and format locales
You encounter Error 2007 and Error 1009 and cannot log in when you use Google Chrome 23 running on Mac OS X 10.7.x. The problem is present if the operating system language and format are set to French, German, Japanese, Korean, or Russian. For the problem to appear, Google Chrome must be installed before switching the operating system locale and the browser must use Flash Player 11.5.31.5 or 11.5.31.139.

Workaround: Perform one of the following tasks:

Change the Flash Player version to 11.5.502.136 or 11.5.31.137.

Switch to English locale and restart the browser.

Switch to English locale, uninstall Chrome, switch back to the locale of choice, and reinstall Chrome.

You cannot access the vSphere Web Client by using some Firefox versions with certain operating systems in an IPv6 network environment
In the Windows and Linux versions of Firefox 18.0.2, you cannot access URLs in an IPv6 environment. On some supported Linux distribution, such as SLES/SLED 11, you cannot use the bundled Firefox 10.x browser, because the browser does not accept SSL certificates for IPv6 addresses. For information about this third-party issue, see Mozilla bug 633001.

Workaround: Use other supported browsers such as Google Chrome or Internet Explorer.

The vSphere Web Client displays error messages in zh, zh-hans, and zh-hant locales
If the browser locale has been set to Simplified Chinese or Traditional Chinese, the vSphere Web Client might display errors when you perform some operations, such as managing objects, licensing, and data center creation. In the Recent Tasks pane, the following message might appear: Unable to create the managed object for <string>. Additional error messages appear as notifications. The problem occurs in Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox.

Workaround: Change the browser locale and restart the browser.

The VMware vSphere Web Client service does not start on Turkish versions of Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2012
When you install the server component of the vSphere Web Client on a Turkish version of Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2012, the service does not start after the installation finishes.

Workaround: Install the vSphere Web Client on a version of Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2012 that is in another language.